Coach Michael Hagy will bring his Belfry Pirates into the 15th Regional tourney this week as 60th District champs. The Pirates are hoping to make some noise in the regional and will be playing on their home field.

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Belfry softball coach Ryan Chapman will lead his Lady Pirates into the regional tourney this week. His squad won the district title. BHS is hosting the 15th Regional softball tourney this week.

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Kyle Lovern

Sports Editor

GOODY, Ky. – The pairings for the 15^th Regional baseball and softball tournaments will be drawn and released on today (Sunday).

The pairings were to be released on Friday, but rain delays and graduations kept the 57^th District tourney from being completed, according to Todd Cassell of Belfry High School. Cassell will serve as director of the baseball and softball regional tournaments being hosted by Belfry High School.

The tournaments will start on Monday and run through Thursday, weather permitting.

Representing the 57^th district in baseball will be either Paintsville or Lawrence County, along with Sheldon Clark. The Cardinals were scheduled to play the winner of the Paintsville - Lawrence County game for the district title.

The 58^th district will be represented by the champion Prestonsburg Blackcats, while Allen Central was the runner-up.

Pikeville was the winner of the 59^th district tourney and will be representing that district along with Allen Central.

Belfry will be hosting and representing the 60^th district as the tourney champs, while Pike County Central comes in as the runner-up.

On the softball side of the regionals, the 57^th district will be represented by Johnson Central and Magoffin County. They were scheduled to play the district championship on Saturday. Regardless of the outcome, both teams will move on to the 15^th regional tourney at Belfry.

From the 58^th district, South Floyd was the winner, while Betsy Layne finished as the runner up.

The 59^th will have perennial softball power Pikeville coming in as the district tourney champs, while East Ridge comes in as the runner-up.

The Lady Pirates of Belfry won the 60^th District and comes is representing as tourney champs, while the runner-up was Pike County Central.

Attorney Eric C. Conn, left, says he admires heroes and believes Charles Ramsey, right, fits that bill. Conn commissioned a bust of Ramsey and asked him to come to his Stanville office for its presentation.

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STANVILLE — Charles Ramsey, the Cleveland dishwasher who rose to national prominence for assisting in the escape of three women who had been kidnapped and imprisoned for nearly a decade, says he does not find it the least bit unusual that he was asked to make an appearance Friday at the office of an Eastern Kentucky attorney over 350 miles away.

“He’s a friend of mine,” Ramsey said, referring to attorney Eric C. Conn.

Ramsey said he has known Conn for five years and once got advice from him. He said Friday’s visit was him simply returning a favor.

“We get the question a lot, ‘Why Floyd County, but least of all, why Stanville?’” Conn said. “Well, it’s part of the United States, last time I checked. You know, we’re kind of funny about it.”

Conn said he was inspired by Ramsey’s actions, to the point that he felt compelled to bring him to Floyd County to meet with local residents.

“I like statues, I like heroes, and this is one that’s still alive,” Conn said. “So I really wanted to give him some credit and let him just say hi and let our area know him a little bit.”

Ramsey gained national notoriety when, after hearing screams from neighbor Ariel Castro’s house, he kicked in a door that allowed Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and a 6-year-old girl escape. The women had been abducted and held captive in Castro’s house for years, under the noses of neighbors and despite an extensive search.

Ramsey said he had lived next to Castro for about a year and saw nothing that would have led him to believe anything out of the ordinary was taking place next door.

“There was no raised eyebrow with him, know what I mean?” Ramsey said. “Dude, for what he did, naturally, you’re a monster. How you did it and how you pulled it off and kept it is a secret, you’re a genius …

“That’s the type of person. You don’t know what to do with this dude. You can’t label him. He’s a regular person.”

Despite living next-door to a “monster” for about a year, Ramsey said he hasn’t changed his opinion of humanity in general, but he does question his neighbors.

“I’m the new kid on the block,” Ramsey said. “Everybody else has raised families and the children have gotten older and married and gone on with their life. The mother and the father who started that generation is still right there. And you don’t see nothing? It’s like my friend say, it’s not about they didn’t see nothing. They aren’t going to say nothing.”

He said that unwillingness to do anything extended to the day the women were rescued.

“The whole neighborhood heard screams,” Ramsey said. “That girl was loud, she stopped me from eating my Big Mac … Did anybody else help? No.”